and how much leverage do they have left? let's bring back dr. jay john allen for politico. how are you, sir? >> doing very well. i was concerned about the wheel of misfortune there on the fiscal cliff. >> i'm worried about it, too. but let's talk about that. how much leverage do the republicans have? we know that the president has leverage because elections matter but what kind of leverage do the republicans have? >> i think the president wants to get this taken care of, not worry about a debt ceiling in the future and the republicans with their effort in that debate and some negotiating room for the republicans. they would like to see serious entitlement reforms or a movement in that direction and a system set up to try to do major tax reform. i think some of that may happen. we are seeing some democrats show some willingness to tinker around with medicare and social security perhaps. >> john, we can't top talking about the cliff negotiation that's all we've been talking about lately and i have something to bring to the table about that. keep rolling up right there. we're stuck be

be ready to include these in a fiscal cliff deal with republicans. whatever negotiations are taking place between the president and speaker john boehner, whatever each side is prepared to give up a a level of security. it's totally possible the white house actually has no intent on messing with medicare or social security benefits. but for the left the chatter is ominous. it's coming from well sourced reporters and we've been down this road before. the pursuit with john boehner in 2011, obama was willing. there's reason to suspect there's something to all this chatter. and the question then becomes why? why would obama who simply by doing nothing these next few weeks could get the tax hike on the wealthy he's been demanding without touching medicare and social security? why would he entertain such drastic changes to the safety net? most likely culprit is the dreaded debt ceiling. here's why. republicans came to these talks with no leverage. the consequences of doing nothing before the december 31st meeting were worse for them than democrats. they looked into 2013 and maybe found something there. they're threatening again to hold the f

. do you think that this changes the grounds of negotiations for the fiscal cliff, and do you think that he's in some way -- he's been aa very ardent tea party supporter, critic of john boehner even with his initial proposal. is he going to wield actually more power at the heritage foundation than he does right now as a senator? >> it's always a joke when anybody talks about wielding more power out of elective office as a civilian than in elective office. it's a real help to the republicans in the senate because he has cost them the senate. he has done more damage to the senate and most especially to republicans in the senate than anyone else. he has backed these crazy, nutty tea parties who have gutted the republican nomination for senate in various states around the country, and then he went on to lose to democrats thereby preserving the democratic control of the senate, preserving harry he reed therei. he had become an absolute disaster within his own party. the big cheer today is in the republican caucus saying, finally, we're getting rid of our absolute craziest nut. >> very good. we congratulate them for that. another thing, lawrence, that happened today is governor bo

think that this mania for a fiscal cliff deal is disturbing but i think the president could say -- promise virtually anything at this point. i don't think he gets a deal because john boehner has crazy member who is will never let him to agree to the tax rates the president will hold the line on and he's kind of safe in that way because i don't think that there will be a deal. >> amen, joan. thank you very much. honored to have you on the show. >> honored to be here. >>> straight ahead, for all the talk on china, policy expert said their gain could be ours, too. the guest spot is next. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. so i never missed a beat. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. i get congested. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. >>> the chinese dragon is awake and ready to roar a. new report of the national intelligence council predicts within t